Citing demand from the evolving U.S. motor oil market, ChevronTexaco announced this week that it is resuming production of Group II-plus base oils at its Richmond, Calif., refinery. The plant – which already produces Group II and Group III stocks – will add a single cut of Group II-plus, named Neutral Oil 5R and designed specifically for use in 5W engine oils. These oils have been claiming a growing share of the U.S. engine oil market, at the same time as specification upgrades ̵...

Fuchs Petrolub AG on June 2 announced a two-pronged expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. The globes biggest independent lubricant company bought an 11 percent stake of Japanese grease maker Nippon Koyu Ltd., while also acquiring a lube distributor in Western Australia, Express Oils. Nippon Koyu,a private corporation,is the third-largest grease producer in Japan and is unrelated to Nippon Oil Corp., Japan’s largest petroleum company. It supplies high quality lubricating greases and special...

First-quarter U.S. lubricant sales volumes increased 1.3 percent compared to thesame period last year, according to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, but the growth was mostly due to demand for process oils. NPRA’s Quarterly Index of Lubricant Sales, released last week, showed industrial process oil sales for the first three months of 2003 up 14.1 percent over the same period of 2002. That increase offset an 8.9 percent drop in sales of industrial lubricants, for an over...